Escalating A War— And Losing Friends

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32233, 27 February 1970, Page 12

Escalating A War— And Losing Friends

Bomb explosions in two aircraft in the last week j have both been attributed to Arab terrorists; and j disclaimers by Arab commando spokesmen have carried little weight with outside Governments, airlines, or air passengers. One of the aircraft; crashed on a flight to Tel Aviv, killing all 47 passengers: the other, carrying mail for Israel, landed safely in Frankfurt after an explosion in its mail compartment The Frankfurt explosion occurred during the official visit of the Israeli Foreign Minister (Mr Abba Eban) to West Germany. The German police are looking for two named Arabs in connection with the Frankfurt explosion: and the Swiss Government has announced that the > fatal explosion in the Swissair jet was caused by sabotage. Arab passengers at Swiss airports have been searched: anti-Arab slogans have appeared in Switzerland: ground staff at Heathrow Airport, near j London, have banned work on all Arab and Israeli i airliners. The Arab guerrilla leader. Yasser Arafat, I has told a hastily-convened news conference that his . movement is against the sabotage of civilian aircraft | and that the new unified guerrilla command is i studying the Swissair crash. The more responsible Arab leaders, and probably . many of the commandos, must have been alarmed by i the prompt reaction by civil aviation authorities and | their Governments to the two aircraft explosions. Thousands of innocent Arab travellers and | businessmen will be inconvenienced until international i airline managements are satisfied that Arab terrorism > Is no longer a threat to the safety of their passengers and crews. Public opinion in such countries as France —hitherto notably sympathetic towards Arab countries—must have been unfavourably influenced by the latest acts of sabotage. Arab Governments have every reason to discourage the commando units based in their territories from any repetition of these deeds. Provided the Israelis can restrain their own zealots while tempers cool, the Arab moderates may at last steel themselves to take firm measures against their own extremists. Then, perhaps, the provocations and reprisals will cease and Arab-Israeli negotiations may begin.